On what level do you highly regard Cage? Is his music important to you independent of its contribution to music theory?

I really do enjoy his music on its own terms, and not merely with reference to its role in the history of 20th century music. Of course I don't actually enjoy listening to things like 4'33", which are more like statements than pieces of music. But some of his music really is quite beautiful in a straightforward sense of the term. I'm thinking especially here of Four Walls and the Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano. My favorite Cage piece is Roaratorio, which I listen to pretty frequently.

I like Dvorak too, but I guess he'd come in at no. 6. Not that my taste in classical is that varied, these guys are just the only ones I know.

I will check out this Mendelssohn though. His mp3s are on sale on Amazon (via the X5 Group). I have about 5 gigs of classical music I got from Amazon for a total of around 12 bucks hitting it up when these compilations go on sale, 99 tracks for 1.99 or 2.49.

I really do enjoy his music on its own terms, and not merely with reference to its role in the history of 20th century music. Of course I don't actually enjoy listening to things like 4'33", which are more like statements than pieces of music. But some of his music really is quite beautiful in a straightforward sense of the term. I'm thinking especially here of Four Walls and the Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano. My favorite Cage piece is Roaratorio, which I listen to pretty frequently.

I've explored some of his writings/interviews/artworks and still listen to his music for its quirky and atmospheric qualities, but it's almost always when I'm actively working on some project that necessitates a cerebral mood and creative spark related to abstraction. I did a series of drawings inspired by his music back in school. I think it's a very reassuring sound if someone is trying to embrace incompleteness, chance, and deferred creative control in a creative outlet, but I've never thought there was quite enough there to warrant attention for its own entertainment value.

Many of Cage's works were composed as part of an overall show that also included dance (he and Merce Cunningham were life partners or whatever that's called these days). Though the music was often composed entirely with no regard to the dance (and vice-versa) because of their belief in aleatoric (chance-based) processes, I think something is still lost when you separate one from the other. Sort of like watching a dance piece without the music.

For example, many people find Stravinsky's Agon difficult to listen to and understand, but when you hear it while watching Balanchine's Agon ballet, it suddenly makes a lot of sense.